As this month’s COP 30 conference in Brazil begins, new research from ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) has revealed that insights into how business operations impact stakeholders are essential for organisations to be resilient and thrive.
Sustainability impacts everyone who provides and uses resources. It can threaten organisation resilience and provide opportunities for sustainable profits. Many respondents struggle to understand the organisation’s vital resources (25%) and the information needs of different stakeholders (33%).
This research is particularly timely for public listed companies (PLCs) in Malaysia, who are now navigating the enhanced sustainability reporting requirements set by Bursa Malaysia, aligned with the National Sustainability Reporting Framework (NSRF).
These mandates include the phased adoption of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards (IFRS S1 and S2) and mandatory TCFD-aligned climate-related disclosures. This regulatory push highlights the immediate need for improved systems and competencies among Malaysian businesses to integrate non-financial and financial data, directly mirroring the report’s findings on the link between stakeholder value and financial consequences.
‘Sustainability reporting: Track your progress’ is the latest in a series of insights and guidance designed to create sustainability-related information and reports. Over 1,000 respondents from 113 jurisdictions were surveyed, two interviews conducted, and eight global roundtables convened to assess organisations’ readiness to create and use sustainability information.
Current readiness across systems, processes, and people remains inadequate, highlighting significant challenges that must be addressed. Poor leadership commitment undermines senior-level strategic decision-making, negatively impacting sustainability strategy, investments in systems and processes, and data governance.
Sharon Machado, head of sustainable business at ACCA, said: “Organisation leaders must look ahead to understand and act upon the risks most threatening their organisation’s resilience and the ability to create sustainable value.”
Andrew Lim, ACCA’s Portfolio Head – Maritime Southeast Asia, added: “The challenge for Malaysia is not just compliance, but capability. Our survey highlights that even globally, over a third of businesses are yet to commit to using sustainability data.
“With Bursa Malaysia and the SC mandating the move to IFRS S1 and S2, Malaysian PLCs need to urgently bridge the gap between their compliance deadlines and their current readiness in systems, people, and data governance. Finance professionals are key to this integration, ensuring that sustainability is viewed not as a separate exercise, but as a core component of financial risk and resilient value creation.”
The research findings emphasise addressing what matters most to the stakeholders who provide resources – when those stakeholders or their resources are affected, there are often direct financial consequences. To help organisations and professionals better create and use sustainability information, the report makes ten recommendations:
- Move beyond compliance
- Champion sustainability
- Prioritise globally relevant standards
- Leverage regulatory reporting ecosystems
- Know your business end to end
- Bake sustainability into stakeholder management
- Be proactive
- Build agile systems focused on the end users
- Build a flexible resourcing model
- Collaborate boldly across industries and regions
Read the detailed recommendations and explore the report here. – BACALAHMALAYSIA.MY
